MONKEY

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is facing irony this week after calling Bitcoin a fraud - as the bank’s Swiss arm is sanctioned for fraud.

Reports from local media outlet Die Handelszeitung relate how the Swiss regulator Finma had ruled JPMorgan was guilty of money laundering in June.

A legal battle then ensued, with Dimon’s giant attempting to prevent the publication of Finma’s judgment.

This month, however, the law ruled against it, but details of the extent of the wrongdoing remain sketchy.

The news is especially amusing to Bitcoin proponents, who watched as Dimon’s accusations that the virtual currency was a “fraud” sent it into temporary freefall in September.

Commentators such as Andreas Antonopoulos were quick to jump on the gratifying reversal of fortune, the cryptocurrency expert telling the audience during a Q&A session this week that “Jamie doth protest too much methinks.”

“It’s interesting how the head of the largest investment bank in the world finds time in his very busy day to speak about a ‘nothing;’ an irrelevant little technology that has no impact on the world,” he added. “It’s almost disconcerting that he would pay so much attention.”

Dimon had followed his outburst against Bitcoin several weeks later with an announcement he would “no longer talk about it,” while other senior figures at the bank said it was “open-minded” in its treatment of the technology.